


Something Unpredictable

by Daxii



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-02 23:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15807120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daxii/pseuds/Daxii
Summary: Rocking the cliché, Jayden's hot neighbour is starting school with him this year. He gets to show her the way of the real world after she's spent years cooped up in boarding school.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Why am I writing this trashy teenage bullshit instead of finishing my long neglected Free! fics? Cus I'm pregnant. It's my excuse for everything now. I'm just too sick to do anything of merit so I'm occupying my time writing total trash. 
> 
> If you've got any baby name ideas, send them this way. We're screwed.

Two sisters stashed at long last in their room and the recycling out on the roadside, Jayden can relax. Or, could, if he didn’t have another sister bickering with his cousin and yet another sister having a fine old cry, inconsolable in his exhausted mother’s arms. 

“Is she hungry,” he asks, probably pointlessly. This is her fifth baby after all. 

“She’s tired... I’m tired. Will you...?” she doesn’t finish, knowing Jayden will take the baby, eye roll and all. 

“Make Lex iron the uniforms, then,” he grunts, starting to bounce the infant in his arms. “You remember they’re all at school tomorrow? It’s Luna’s first day. She’s only staying till 12, then you have to go get her.”

Catherine nods. “I’m not stupid...”

Jayden’s not so sure, but keeps it to himself, watching his mother make her way upstairs, to her room. Literally the opposite direction of Hailey. Does he have to do everything?

He steps through their battered conservatory, swerving round the bucket catching the drips, and finds his eldest little sister in the garden with their cousin Harry. 

“Lexi, will you iron the school uniforms?”

“Uh, no,” she scoffs.

“Please? Mum’s gone to bed...”

“I need an early night for school tomorrow. You’ve got another day, why can’t you do it?”

“Because I’ve done everything?” he growls. “Harry, where’s Charlotte?”

Harry shrugs. Pub, probably. Jayden’s never been fond of his alcoholic aunt, but at least she got the snip before pumping out five kids like Catherine had. 

“Fine, choose. Baby or ironing?” he offers the teens an ultimatum. 

“Ironing,” Harry mutters. Jayden’s not sure how well that’s going to go, and sends Alexis another pleading look. 

“Fine!” she huffs. 

Jayden stays in the garden, hoping the fresh air will put Princess to sleep. Yep. Princess. Catherine got more and more idiotic the more children she had. It was probably because Jayden was such a popular name, and even Alexis wasn’t that unique when she got into school... Mum just went a bit mad. 

“Hi, Jayden!” he heard, turning to the fence. Great. 

“Sup?” he asks. Being polite. His long-time neighbour must have been standing on something to be able to lean on the fence and look down on him like that. 

“Oh is this the new baby?” she squeals. “I’ve hardly seen her since summer started. We’ve been in Austria for a few weeks... didn’t mean to... we were on a cruise that ended there and Papa really wanted to take Aurelio skiing so...”

“Well she’s not so new anymore,” Jayden bounces the baby, keeping the motion to keep her asleep. He makes a point of ignoring her holiday chatter. “You’re never around in September. Shouldn’t you be going back to school?”

She gives him a soft smile that looks... suddenly imperfect. Everything about his neighbours was disgustingly perfect. When they’d first moved in, Jayden was delighted to have a neighbour his age, and Valentina had been nice. Weirdly nice. No-fun sort of nice. And then she spent 80% of every year at some fancyass boarding school with her fancyass friends while Jayden and his ever increasing amount of siblings struggled on at the local comprehensive. 

“I’m... not going this year,” Valentina mumbles, shy. Jayden hasn’t seen her shy before. 

Silence falls, lingering. He doesn’t care to ask. Doesn’t care in general, really. Not anymore. He’d had a year of lust when he’d spent two weeks as a thirteen year old hanging out with her in her family’s brand new back yard hot tub and then hadn’t seen her again for months on end. 

“Aurelio’s going to St. Finnegan’s,” she says. It’s like she’s begging for the question. She has the dialogue planned out and Jayden isn’t playing along. 

Jayden smiles politely. The nearest private school. Obviously. But...

“They don’t have a sixth form... You’ll be at the Grammar school then, huh?” there he falls, right into her palm. Should’ve walked away when he had the chance...

Valentina shakes her head. “I... um... didn’t pass the entrance exam.”

Jayden winces. Well that’s gotta suck. Such high performing parents, all those expectations, and the girl really is nothing more than a pretty face. 

“What? So, are you going to the Academy or something?” he doesn’t mean to scoff, but Valentina?! At Bridgend Academy?! Girl’s gonna get slaughtered. 

She nods. All the confidence and charisma has drained from her persona. Her face lacks the angular Italian features of her mother and brother, somehow falling into softer expressions. Their mothers have clashed countless times. Jayden was always intimidated by the sharp points of cheek and jaw on Elisabetta’s face. 

“Same... Year 12,” Jayden says. 

Valentina smiles. “I know. We were always in the same year, remember?”

“Heh, well, I’ve added two other sisters to my life since we last hung out. We’ll catch up, Valley, I gotta get this little one inside while she’s still asleep.”

“Ok... tomorrow? Come round anytime... everyone’s out till four.”

Jayden gets Princess down in her moses basket next to Catherine’s bed. Neither of them stir. He peeks in on the girl’s room, Ebony and Luna both fast asleep. He goes to the window, looking down on the back garden... it’s always a bit of a shock to see the state of theirs compared to the Everett’s. With their patio and garden and vegetable patch, that huge hot tub right in the middle... it was twice the size of their little concrete slab with the grass at the end, strewn with pink plastic toys the kids had used all summer. He knows damn well Valentina’s room looks over the back too... what must she think when she looks in his garden?

The bathroom, as in, the only bathroom is free so Jayden takes his chance for a shower. Lex will no doubt want to hog it as soon as she’s (hopefully) finished with the uniforms. 

It was amazing how, even clammed up with her embarrassment, Valley managed to win him over in minutes... he was supposed to play it cool, not care, not get sucked back into pining for her attention... and now he'll be in that hot tub in about twelve hours.

He dries off and rubs his hair till it stops dripping, wrapping the towel around his waist so he can get to his room. Until last year, it wouldn't have been such a problem, when he was sharing with Harry right next to the bathroom. But then Charlotte kicked off, “if I’m paying half the rent I want my boy to have his own room” blah blah blah. 

It’s cool, though, because Jayden’s been slowly clearing out the garage and kitting it out into his very own man-cave. Oh the privacy.


	2. Chapter 2

Privacy which... doesn’t last as long as he’d like. It’s barely even light, the baby is crying, there’s other little feet scuffling around, and the wall between the garage and the kitchen is officially made of paper. 

Well, he’s up, and his phone says it’s a little after 5am, so it could certainly be worse. The kids can get some free breakfast at school a early as 7... the teens can take care of themselves (probably), but then there’s tapping on his door. 

“Jayjay… Jayjay,” Luna whispers. 

Jayden sighs. “Give me one minute, kiddo.”

He finds clean clothes and hurriedly dresses. Four year olds can’t be trusted not to barge in while you’re naked, after all. Luna opens the door as Jayden is just fasting the button on his camo shorts. He hopes she’s understood the look he’s just thrown her. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks gently. 

“Mummy says I need a baff before school.”

“Does Mummy know you had a bath yesterday?” he asks. He was sure he’d got her sorted...

“But I peed in the bed,” and oh, Luna, such a lack of shame. 

At least the kid still wore a pull-up to bed. Jayden tries not to groan as he steers her upstairs and turns the shower on, refusing to fill the bath for just one kid when she just needs a hose down. Their gas meter was already ticking low with all the extra laundry being done to get ready for school. 

One clean child wrapped in her dressing gown, Jayden tries to get her to lie back down on the couch for just a little bit more sleep. He puts the kettle on. Catherine walks in. 

“Prinny asleep?” he asks.

“Yes. Don’t call her that.”

Well isn’t Mum just in a good mood this morning. She at least pours them both coffees. Alexis will have to get her own. 

Jayden takes his mug back to his room. It gets so stuffy in here in summer, so he opens up the narrow door he and his friend Riley managed to cut into the corrugated metal garage door. It’s got hinges and everything, and some of that silicone stuff to stop it being drafty. It’s just gone 6 now, and looking like a wonderful day to hop in a hot tub with a certain pretty girl who occupied his fantasies last night. Try not to judge, it’s just something to do with being sixteen.

He’s got into a bit of a habit of this, coming out to the drive at daft in the morning under the pretense of enjoying his coffee. But in the last week or so, he’s been noticing something that’s getting him out here every morning, and this time it’s not a certain pretty girl. It’s her mum. And the girl, kinda. 

It’d be hilarious if Catherine and Alexis were trying to make this kind of spectacle work, but when Elisabetta and Valentina step out of their house in sports bras and leggings, Jay just can’t help but lean back in his little plastic chair and take in the view as they set off past him for a couple of ks. 

Her model mum is where Valentina gets it from, Jayden’s in no doubt. They’d have been what, ten years old and sitting on Valley’s living room floor looking at old pictures cut from magazines and scrapbooked of Elisabetta’s modelling days, even after William Everett had given her a good deal on some new teeth or something and swept her off her feet. She was even modelling designer maternity clothes while she was expecting Valentina. 

It’s something about the curves. Jay’s decided he likes curves. Something soft and malleable to really get a feel of. It’s what Megan didn’t have. You can’t cuddle with a storm of elbows jutting every which way. Megan was a solid block of muscle with twigs instead of limbs. She was fit and all and, uh, flexible, but Jay’s not so sad they’ve sort of lost touch this summer. They clashed in too many ways. 

Valentina wasn’t a too-keen netball player. Jayden’s not sure what she’s up to these days, but she was always going off to ballet classes when they were younger. She’s still got the legs for it, all long and lithe and slim. Soft muscle instead of hard. Delicate. She always seemed delicate, inside and out. 

Back inside, the teens are ready, sitting glumly on the couch eating cereal. The kids are in their uniforms at least, Luna just adorable in a little yellow gingham dress. Ebony prefers grey shorts from the boys’ uniform so she can do cartwheels in the playground. 

“Thanks for the ironing,” Jayden says quietly to Lexi. 

She smiles, “Only because it’s the first day, though.”

“Yeah, right.” She’s a good kid really. Harry, too. They’ve both learned to pull their weight around the house. “Luny, come let me brush your hair.”

He can’t do much, but he’s picked up the gingham scrunchie and matching gingham trimmed ankle socks to finish Luna’s uniform off with. He’ll be dammed if his sister isn’t the cutest kid in school. 

Princess is in her pram, giggling away, being happy for once. Probably glad to be an only child for a while. Luna has a little board on the back of it to ride on, since the primary school isn’t that close to home when you’ve only got little legs. 

“Have fun, Bunny. And Lu, I want you to make a new friend and come home and tell me all about them, ok?”

“Bye Jayjay,” both girls say, waving. Catherine heaves the buggy up the driveway, the kids running ahead. 

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock... when’s an appropriate time to invite himself over to Valentina’s? He’s seen the rest of the family leave already, he knew she was up since she’d been for a jog. He’s annoyed at his own excitement. It’s like a nostalgic niggle who just wants to be best friends with Valley all over again. They were best friends, right...?


	3. Chapter 3

Time to man up, Jayden. 

“Valley!” woah, woah, bit too excited there, boy. “Got yourself one of these babies?” he asks, waving the envelope that’s just popped through his front door. 

“This?” she looks down at her feet where it’s dropped through the letter box. “Oh! It’s from the school!”

“I know it’s early, but I figured it’d be cool to open them together? It’s got our timetables and stuff.”

“Come in, then. I was just sorting out some clothes in my room... do you mind coming up with me? We can talk while I sort... and I don’t know what I’m supposed to wear to college anyway...” she trails off. 

Jayden smiles and steps in. “Lead the way,” he says like he doesn’t remember, “and I have four sisters. I know more about skirts than my own socks these days.”

Valentina’s room has changed since he was last here.. probably because he was last here when she was 12 and everything was turquoise. Now it’s all white and grown up and elegant. White wall paper with shimmery gold lace embossed, glossy dressers and desk... gigantic mirrored doors to her walk-in wardrobe. Big puffy white bedding on her big puffy white bed. This thing is huge... There’s more gold glistening in the sequins on the sheets, and towering over him on her dance trophy shelf. She probably still does it then, huh. 

“Sit, sit,” Valentina says, grinning and climbing up on the bed. 

Does he sit next to her or opposite or... next to her. He gets to lean against those pillows. They open up the envelopes and create a pile of papers in front of Valley’s crossed legs. Jayden begins to read a list of bullet points on the opening letter. 

“No extravagant hairstyles... No extravagant jewellery... No extrava- blah blah blah, if you are currently pregnant please inform the office upon your arrival... damn do I need to take a test?” he looks down at his stomach, “nah... think this is just my breakfast baby.”

“What will you name him?” 

“Cornflakes.”

She laughs and slaps his arm lightly, getting control of herself. “Seriously though... are they expecting pregnant people? Like... sixteen year olds with bumps and everything?”

“There’s at least four girls from my high school who are moving up here and are pregnant... who knows from the other schools. And I bet there’s even more now, with whatever they’ve been getting up to over summer while they’ve got the house to themselves.”

“Oh... wow...” Valley’s jaw hangs open. Her innocence is showing. 

“Guess you don’t have those kind of things when you go to a school without boys, right?”

“You’re literally the only boy friend I’ve ever had.”

“It’s frowned upon to have more than one at once,” Jayden says, defiant. 

Valentina scoffs. “Oh you know what I mean. You’re the only male of the species who isn’t bonded to me by blood who I know. Better?”

“If you say so,” Jayden winks, and gets another slap on the arm. “A bunch of my friends will be going to college with us. Just point one out and I’ll introduce you, if you’re into that kind of thing.”

“Uh... I think I’d rather just make some friends. I met a few girls at my new dance class, but they’re all going to the grammar school. I’ll know no one there at all but you.”

She’s sad. Disappointed. The life gone from her face just like yesterday. Sort of shame and jealousy and doubt written all over her. 

“Hey,” Jayden drops his voice, makes it soft. “I’ll be around whenever you need me, kay? Now, stop being sad. Timetables! Ah shit more boring stuff ‘because of your U grade in English GCSE you have been automatically been signed up for extra classes to retake the exam in December... uh huh, I didn’t even show up to the first one... this will take up one of your free period blocks. Damn.”

“What’s a U?” she’s still not smiling, but she’s leaning closer, which is nice. Jayden’s gotten good at comfort. 

Always the brother, never the bride... or something. 

“Ungradable,” Jayden’s not ashamed in the slightest. “I didn’t even take it. Mum had a baby. I was busy,” he shrugs. 

“Oh... I got an E,” she’s frowning again. “I have to do the retake too. Do we have the same class for that?”

Yes, yes they do! Jayden starts to scour the rest of the papers, looking for other correlating classes. He’s got P.E, politics and media studies and she’s got classical civilisations (isn’t that history?), history (whaaat?) performing arts and... politics! 

“You’re taking an extra subject than me,” he states. “Less free time for homework and stuff... you’ve only got one block of free periods, like three hours in a week.” 

“Is it together?”

“Yup. And form time on a Friday, we’ve got the same teacher I think.”

“What’s form time?”

Jayden shrugs. They’re sinking closer and closer on this damn puffy bed, shoulders leaning together now. “I think it’s just where they tell you to say no to drugs and use protection. It’s only fifteen minutes a week.”

It’s hard not to sink into Valentina’s pile of pillows. He was up so early and she’s so close and it’s so nice... he’s not sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t supposed to be this easy to fall back into step with each other after all this time. It’s like something just clicks. Parts of their personalities are so similar when their life experience couldn’t be more different. Jayden likes it. Likes it a lot... and this time she’s sticking around longer than a few weeks. 

Jay groans as Valentina rolls off the bed and throws her wardrobe open, pulling a pile of clothes out that had obviously been shoved in there to make a good impression. They chat, filling each other in on more than just the last six weeks of summer. They’ve got years to make up for. Jayden points at trophies and gets all the details. Valley dashes over to look at photos on his phone of the girls growing up. Luna couldn’t even walk the last time they had this much to say to each other. 

He’s trying not to just say yes to anything tight or low cut when she’s musing over clothes to set aside for school. She’s so pretty, so bright, so innocent... and with a ballerina’s figure, she’s already gonna have a hard time keeping the boys at bay. 

“Valley,” he starts, sitting up and looking up, seeing her stop in her tracks and just smile at him. “Do you wanna... get something to eat and enjoy our last day of freedom?”

“Like, go to town?” she cocks her head. 

Jay shrugs. He didn’t just ask her out, just, ya know, out. Out of the house. Outside. Walking. Stuff. 

“I was wanting to try out a new salad for lunch... to take it to college. But I can make plenty and we can sit on the patio with the sunshine. Do you have trunks? Fancy some hot tub time?”

Does he ever.


	4. Chapter 4

Jayden hasn’t been on holiday in a very long time. The year after they moved here, he was taken to a posh caravan park with ziplines and pony rides with Valentina’s family for a week. That was _great_. He imagines that this right here is what they’d be doing on holiday _now_ , sipping lemonade in a hot tub, not wearing enough clothes for her parents liking, giggling like there’s something else been slipped into their drinks, but not really.

He sinks down to his neck, a jet of water spraying nicely into the small of his back where it feels fantastic.

“So is it like it is in films?” Valentina asks. Jay’s forgotten what they were talking about.

“Uhh…?”

“Like, you have your sports guys and your goth people and the pretty girls. And everyone knows who everyone’s dating. You’ve got all the gossip and the bullies and the-” Jay silences her with a finger to her lips.

“Shh, you’re getting _way_ over excited about this. It’s just school.”

“But I’ve never _been_ to a normal school. I started at Fairhaven when I was _seven_.” and she’d been at St. Finnegan’s before that.

“Yeah, alright. It’s not really like the movies... people hang out with their friends but you’re allowed to have more than one group of friends. Give it a week and you’ll be hanging with the ‘pretty girls’” he air quotes the clique, “and only sitting with me in class. Or in here.”

“Why would I be with them?” she turns, smiles, probably flutters her eyelids, but Jayden’s looking away because he can see where this is going.

“Because,” he sighs, “you’re pretty. You must know that...”

She shrugs and brightens into a grin. It’s a good thing Jay has a high tolerance for embarrassment.

“And what about the dating,” she continues, still grinning.

“Heh,” Jayden laughs. “Why do you think there’s so many pregnant people?” _she’s_ blushing now. “I think my friend’s Akdus and Freya are sort of a couple. Uh... James and Shelby are always on and off. Ignore them.”

He can’t think of anyone else to list off who might be of significance to their regular social scene. He doesn’t pay enough attention for all this gossip she’s after.

“What about you?”

“ _Me?!_ Uh… I sort of had a girlfriend, Meg, but we’ve lost contact over summer,” he frowns. “Didn’t like being woken up by the kids at cock o'clock when she stayed over.”/

“Jayden!” she’s grinning and rounding on him. “Stayed over?! Did you...?”

“Val _ley_ ,” Jayden groans, throwing his head into his hands. “Yes...”

She stops there, thank god, and Jayden gets his composure back. He wants to throw out something sarcastic about her spending the last ten years surrounded by other girls, what did _she_ get up to, but... he’s not found all her buttons yet. He doesn’t want to push anything that pushes her away.

They relax for a while longer in silence, but it’s a comfortable silence, despite the couple of awkward smiles they throw each other, both checking that everything’s _alright_.

 

“Do you know what time it is?” Jay quietly asks.

Valentina checks her phone. Jayden left his in the kitchen. He’s guaranteed to drop it in the water. “Nearly 3. You gotta go?”

“Shit. Yeah. I’ve gotta pick Ebony up at quarter past.”

“Time flies,” she smiles, stepping out of the tub with Jayden.

They’ve left towels in the conservatory and she walks ahead of him in her strappy white swimsuit, back practically bare and a lattice of strings not really covering her stomach. He changes quickly in the downstairs bathroom (why don’t they have one of these?) and finds her in a towelled robe in the hall.

“Bad form to be late on the first day,” he huffs, jamming feet into shoes. “Mum’ll kill me. Anyway... it’s been great, Valley. I had a great day.”

“Me too, Jayden. Um... we could meet here in the morning? Go together?”

“Sure. I’ll be here about 8. Ish. Probably. We’ve just got a couple of stops on the metro so we’ll have plenty of time.”

It’s an awkward, one armed hug before he jogs off.

 

Jayden’s panting at the gates to the primary school. He waves at Ebony, lined up with the rest of her class waiting to be sent to their respective guardians. He’s run the whole way in his ancient trainers and his ankle kinda hurts. These things need to _go_.

Ebony tells him everything. _Everything_. Jayden tries to listen, really, he does. He asks questions and answers hers appropriately... but he’s a little distracted at the moment.

His imagination’s running wild. He’s giddy and, urgh, _hormonal_. He hadn’t really been looking forward to starting college, because really, he’s just gonna have less time in the evenings to spend by himself. He’ll have homework and _course_ work and all those bloody kids to attend to.

Speaking of which. “Want a snack when we get in?” he asks Ebony.

“I’m _starving_ ,” she suddenly groans. “We had _curry_ for lunch and it was _green!”_

Well, that’s what you get when you’re on free school meals. Jayden stifles a laugh. He’s doing his best not to raise picky eaters, but it’s hard to get much variety when you’re on a budget.

“Beans on toast?” he suggests. Hopefully his mum or Catherine will be making a _proper_ tea later. Or maybe it’ll just be pizza. It’s the first day of school, after all.

“Sure,” Ebony skips along. “Can we have the beans from a pan instead of the microwave?”

“Only if you help me do the washing up,” because bean juice stinks to their saucepan like glue.

 

It’s a meal he can set up on the coffee table and everyone can take as much as they want. Two tins of beans cooked and poured into a bowl in the centre, and a big stack of toast. He helps Luna butter her two slices and scoops some beans onto the side of her plate.

“ _Sooo_ , remember what I asked you this morning?”

“To make a friend? Well I made _two_!” she grins. “Violet and Lydia. They’re _twins_.”

“Yeah? Do they look the same?”

She nods vigorously. “Violet has a flowery hair band and Lydia has a sparkly one.”

“I reckon Violet has a flowery one because violets are a type of flower,” this is his favourite thing about little kids, this getting to impart knowledge he’s been uselessly storing all his life and feel like David Attenborough for a brief moment.

“What colour flower?”

“Purple.”

Luna gasps. “ _Her hairband is purple!”_

 _Knew it_ , Jayden thinks.


End file.
